


Project Eirene

by transitioning_laufeyson



Series: If You Love Me Let Me Go [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: BAMF Natasha Romanov, BAMF Phil Coulson, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Panic Attacks, Past Rape/Non-con, Suicide Attempt, they will both fuck shit up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-08-06 14:09:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16389167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transitioning_laufeyson/pseuds/transitioning_laufeyson
Summary: Safety has been compromised for Justin and his family. Now all he can do is pick up the pieces and move on as best he can.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> After almost two months, I have returned! With this shit. I am sorry.

The house was nice. Tony did a good job picking it out. Apparently, he’d hired a couple of guys to give it some upgrades, including setting up FRIDAY within the home, which Justin thought was excessive. But the thought was nice, anyway.

Justin unlocked the door and held it open for Rhodey, who had two suitcases with him. Steve carried another one, and Sephy was behind him, holding the purple cat that Red had sent her the previous Christmas.

They put the suitcases in the hallway and Justin went to the cupboards, looked in them.

“Wow, Tony really has thought of everything. There’s even food in here. I’m guessing that there’s stuff in the fridge too,” Justin said, taking out a bag of pasta. The interior of the house was pretty modern, despite the old exterior. Justin could see some stairs leading down to the basement, where he could only presume was a lab.

He hadn’t been back to Ebbing ever since he went to college. Jason came back to become a cop, god knows why.

Ebbing was a quiet sort of town, nothing interesting ever happened, apart from a murder about three years ago. Angela Hayes, a teenager, was raped and then stabbed and burned. They caught the killer, but Jason never told him who it was.

“Dad, can I go and pick my room?” Sephy asked.

“Sure thing, Seph, knock yourself out. We’re leaving soon to go see your uncle, okay?” He asked. Sephy nodded and ran upstairs.

“J, got the last of the stuff in,” Rhodey said. “Steve’s on his way out.”

“Great! I’ll give Jason a ring and see what’s going on,” Justin said. He pulled out his phone and rang up his brother.

“The prodigal son returns!” Jason said.

Justin laughed. “Not damn likely. How’s stuff at your end?”

“Well, we got up about fifteen minutes ago. Red’s making breakfast,” Jason said.

“Jace, it’s quarter past three in the afternoon.”

“Yeah, and? We sleep in most weekends,” Jason replied.

“Jesus, well, we just arrived, so once you idiots have eaten, then why don’t you come over?”

“Yeah, yeah, we can do that,” Jason said. “See you guys soon, then.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Uncle Jason!” Sephy said, running down the steps and flinging herself into her uncle’s arms. Jason lifted her up and hugged her tight.

“Jesus, you’re bigger than I expected,” he said, stepping backwards to steady himself. Red put a hand on Jason’s back to steady him. “How are you, kid?”

“I’m good,” Sephy said, letting Jason put her back down. Justin stepped forward and hugged Jason, then gave Red a confused look.

“Were you always this tall?” Justin asked. Red snorted.

“Nice to see you too, little man,” Red replied. Justin gave him an unimpressed look and punched him in the stomach. When Red doubled over coughing, Justin rolled his eyes.

“Come on! It wasn’t even that hard,” Justin said. Sephy giggled, grabbed Jason’s hand and ran back inside. Jason followed with an ‘oh god, alright’, and Rhodey stepped forward to place a gentle hand on Justin’s shoulder.

“J, you do realise that the self defence lessons you got from Natasha mean that you punch really hard now, right?” Rhodey asked. Justin gasped and put a hand over his mouth.

“Shit! Sorry Red,” Justin said, helping him back up. “I didn’t realise.”

Red gasped for a few seconds. “Yeah, no shit. Jesus fuck.” Red straightened back up with a sigh. “Anyway, it’s nice to see you again, Justin.”

“Yeah, it’s been too long,” Justin said.

“And you’re Colonel Rhodes,” Red said, going to shake Rhodey’s hand.

“Yep. I go by Rhodey,” the man in question said.

“Yeah, according to him it’s a standing joke from MIT,” Justin said.

“Quite the nickname,” Red said. “Nice to meet the ‘grumpy overprotective boyfriend’ I’ve heard so much about but never actually met.”

Rhodey gave Justin a look. “Overprotective? Really?”

“Rhodey, you glared at Steve, Steve, when he wrapped an arm around my shoulder the other day, I mean come on, it’s Steve, he’s like an overgrown puppy.”

“Oookay, I’m going to go inside before this turns into a real fight,” Red said. Rhodey and Justin followed him in, where Jason was telling Sephy stories about when they were younger.

“Yeah, and then he fell over and landed his face on-”

“Are we really telling that story?” Justin asked. “I mean, come on, Jace, tell us about what‘s been going on since I’ve last been here.”

“Justin, it’s been ten years since you’ve last been here,” Jason said.

“Yeah, so update us please,” Justin said.

“Well, Mildred Hayes’s son’s gone to college,” Jason said. “James is good, y’know, the midget?”

“Yeah, I remember him,” Justin said. “Funny guy.”

“He has a crush on Mildred,” Jason said, laughing. “It’s so damn funny.” Red tried not to laugh too.

“It is very funny,” Red said.

“What about her husband?” Justin asked.

“He’s dating a college student,” Red replied. Justin winced. “I agree with you there. It makes everyone uncomfortable.”

“Well, let’s just hope that we don’t see them then, huh?” Justin said.

“Yeah,” Jason said. “To be honest, not much has changed social scene wise apart from the fact that no-one calls me and Red fags anymore, so that’s nice.”

“It is very nice,” Red agreed.

“Do you agree with everything Jason says or do you just agree with him on a few things?” Rhodey asked.

“Shut up.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Sephy had long gone to bed and Justin and Rhodey were sitting together on the sofa drinking beer.

“Did you take a look at the bracelet that Tony gave you in the end?” Rhodey asked.

“No, actually, let’s do that,” Justin said. He exposed the bracelet and pressed the button Tony had indicated.

Suddenly a voice came, female like FRIDAY, though without the accent that FRIDAY possessed.

“Hello. I am Eirene. It is lovely to make your acquaintance.” She had, of all things, a Brooklyn accent. “I am a security system designed to co-operate with FRIDAY to ensure the general safety of your family, as instructed by Mr Stark.”

“Well damn,” Rhodey said, looking up. “He didn’t need to do all that.”

“Holy shit!” Justin exclaimed. “Does that man ever stop working on something?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing really happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I’m not doing great at the moment. My grandad died yesterday so I’m having the day from hell right now. I’m writing to distract myself. Hopefully the next chapter will be better. Sorry.

“Dad, can we get biscuits?” Sephy asked. “I want to take them to school.”

“Uh, sure, go and find them,” Justin said, looking at the different choices of pasta in the supermarket. She ran off, out of sight.

“Well well well, look who it is.”

Justin turned round, and caught sight of someone he hadn’t seen in years. “Mildred Hayes, hi. Haven’t seen you in a while.”

“I could say the same about you,” Mildred said. “What’s got you back in town?”

Justin swallowed, and looked at the floor. “You don’t want to know.”

Mildred shrugged. “Alright then. Was that your kid that just ran past me?”

“Yeah, yeah she is,” Justin replied, thankful for the change of discussion. “I heard about what happened to your daughter, by the way. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine. We caught the guys that did it, so it’s behind me,” Mildred shrugged again. “Been hopin’ you and your guy might bring a bit more acceptance into this town. Your brother’s been havin’ a hard time of it.”

Justin shrugged. “Highly doubt if anyone’s gonna yell abuse at War Machine, ‘specially here.”

Mildred nodded. Then she took a closer look at Justin, and her eyes narrowed. “What happened to your neck?”

Justin’s eyes widened, and he put a hand over the scar that was still healing. “It’s... uh...”

“I found them!” Sephy said, chucking two packets of biscuits and a chocolate bar into the shopping cart.

“Sephy, this is Mildred,” Justin said. “Mildred, this is my daughter.”

“Hi,” Mildred said. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Sephy said.

“Well, we’ve got everything we need,” Justin said. “I’ll see you around, I guess.” Mildred nodded and walked off.

“Who was that?” Sephy asked.

“Someone that I knew a long time ago.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Welcome home,” FRIDAY greeted them.

“Hey,” Rhodey said, getting up from the couch. “How was shopping?”

“I got chocolate!” Sephy cried, before hugging Rhodey and running up the stairs to her room.

Rhodey chuckled and shook his head. “What have you given her?” Justin smiled, and tilted his head so that Rhodey could kiss him properly.

“What’s happened while we’ve been gone?” Justin asked.

“Well, Tony called and asked if everything was going okay,” Rhodey said. “And I have a mission coming up in a few days.”

Justin pulled a face. “Goddamnit.”

“Should be fine,” Rhodey said. “What with SHIELD having access to every camera in Missouri and everything.”

Justin snorted and gave a small wave to the tiny camera in the corner of the room, near the ceiling.

“Well anyway,” Rhodey said, “in better news, Phil has a few leads. They think Adams is in Baltimore somewhere. Some tech expert’s on it.”

“That is much better news,” Justin said. He stepped away and leaned on the kitchen table. “And how is our lovely Mr Stark?”

“As usual, rambling and vaguely coherent,” Rhodey said, moving forward and pulling Justin in close. He kissed Justin on the cheek and sighed. “I love you, do you know that?”

“Yeah,” Justin said, wrapping his arms around Rhodey’s neck. “I love you too.” Rhodey smiled into Justin’s shoulder. “Don’t crush me.”

Then they were both laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> o shit he back

A knock on the door brought Justin out of his work, papers spread out on the kitchen table. Rhodey was on the sofa, reading something.

The sun was setting, leaving vibrant red and orange streaks across the otherwise pale pink and blue sky.

Justin got up to answer the door. Jason and Red stood there, happy expressions on their faces.

“Come to the bar with us!” Jason said excitedly. At Justin’s bewildered look, he continued. “It’ll be fun!”

Justin turned around to where Rhodey was looking at them. “Should I?”

Rhodey shrugged. “Sure. Go ahead. I’m not the boss of you. Just don’t get too drunk.”

Justin snorted, then looked back to the couple. “Give me a minute to get changed.”

So about three minutes later he was out the door in a plaid shirt and a bomber jacket he stole from Rhodey.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jason had an arm around his shoulder as they walked in, explaining something or other.

“Oh! Hey, there’s James,” Red said. He pointed to where a very short man was standing by a pool table with Mildred. “Let’s go and say hi.”

“Well well well,” James said as they approached. “Look who it is.”

“Pair of idiots and a special kind of dipshit,” Mildred said, leaning on the pool table. “What brings you boys here tonight?”

“Justin here needs to remember that there’s still fun in the world,” Jason said, accepting two of the three beers that Red brought over.

“Well, I’m not so sure that this is the right place to be if that’s the case,” she said, chuckling. She stepped over, and lifted her hand like she was going to slap him on the shoulder.

He flinched.

She put her hand down, a conflicted expression on her face. Jason and Red both stilled, and James looked mildly curious.

Mildred seemed to mentally shake herself. “You wanna join in?” She asked, picking up her cue and holding it out for Justin to take. Once he did, Jason and Red visibly relaxed.

When Justin was lining up to take a shot, he heard Mildred ask the pair ‘what the hell was that?’ He heard no response, and he took the shot.

“Goddamn,” James said. “You’re good at this.”

“Actually, I need practice,” Justin said sheepishly.

“That’s not what I see,” the short man responded. “What brings you back here anyways?”

“It’s a long story,” Justin said.

“Fair enough,” Mildred said, walking back over and giving him a sympathetic look. “If you ever want to talk, just let me know.”

~~~~~~~~~~

A few days later

Justin was sketching out another potential improvement for the War Machine armour.

“Hey, J.”

Justin turned around from the kitchen table. Rhodey and Sephy were stood at the doorway, Sephy wrestling with her sandals.

“Yeah?”

“We’re going flying kites,” Rhodey said. “You coming with? We’ve got a picnic.”

Justin shut his design book and got up from the table. “Sure, why not.”

The wind was properly picking up by the time they got to the top of the hill. Rhodey unfolded the kites and handed one to Sephy and one to Justin.

“I don’t remember how to do this,” Sephy said. Justin handed his kite back to Rhodey and picked Sephy’s up.

“You take this,” He said, handing the handle to Sephy. “Don’t drop it.” He walked out a few metres and threw the kite into the air. It immediately got picked up by the wind. “Unravel the rope slowly. Increase the tension to send it up higher.”

Rhodey helped Justin launch his kite and then sat on a bench, watching them.

The wind blew the kites high into the air. Justin’s kite almost fell a few times, but he managed to keep it up. For two hours they flew the kites, chatting and laughing, and semi-screaming when their kites almost fell.

Then Justin’s phone rang.

“Rhodey, hold my kite,” Justin said, taking out his phone. Rhodey took the kite from him.

“Who is it?” Rhodey said.

Unknown number.

Justin didn’t answer Rhodey, but accepted the call.

“John.”

Rhodey looked over, concern clear on his face.

“Hey baby,” that nauseating voice said. “Did you move? I think you did.”

“What’s it to you?” Justin said, watching Rhodey walk over to Sephy and get her to lower her kite. He read Rhodey’s mouth. Let’s have lunch.

“People taking what’s mine is always my business,” John said.

“Who said I was yours?” Justin said. He put the phone between his ear and his shoulder and tapped the bracelet, alerting Eirene.

What can I do for you? The blue words came up on the screen.

“Me,” John said. “And let’s be honest, I’m the one with the authority in this relationship.”

Track his location, he told her. An algorithm showed up on the screen, showing that the search was commencing.

Justin closed his eyes. “Who said this was a relationship?”

“I’d say this was a relationship,” John said cockily. “Come on, quit being prude. You know you want me.”

Eirene gave his location. Justin immediately sent it to Tony and Phil.

Fuck this guy.

Justin sighed before replying. Knowing where John was gave him confidence. “Do you live on Elm Street? Because you are a real fucking nightmare.”

John audibly scoffed before replying. “You’re going to pay for that.”

“I don’t fucking see that,” Justin said. Rhodey and Sephy were getting the picnic stuff out of the car. Rhodey looked back up from the car and caught his eye.

Justin took the phone away from his ear, where John was saying something, and hung up. He smiled at Rhodey, who smiled back.

He was safe.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!
> 
> See you guys whenever!


End file.
